Desperate for clues into last Friday’s murder of police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi, security appears to be exploring a possible link to the murder of businessman Wilberforce Wamala, reports EDRIS KIGGUNDU.
It emerged yesterday that security had picked particular interest in a 2012 murder in a bid to understand why Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi was shot dead last week.
The news came through online journalist Stanley Ndawula, who claimed his life could be in danger because he authored stories accusing Kaweesi of frustrating investigation into Wamala’s murder. In a post on his Facebook page, Ndawula claimed that Museveni met high-ranking individuals and demanded to know why the Wamala murder investigations had stalled.
Although police spokespersons could not be reached for comment on a day one of their leaders was being buried, Ndawula’s claims introduce an intriguing dynamic into the Kaweesi murder mystery.
For one, Kaweesi’s name was thickly entangled with the Wamala murder, amid persistent accusations that he was misusing his office to frustrate the search for justice.
GUNNED DOWN
Kaweesi was gunned down on Friday morning by assailants travelling on boda boda motorcycles, near his home in Kulambiro, Nakawa division. He was buried yesterday in Lwengo district.
The motive behind his murder, which has shaken the nation, remains unknown but police say they are following several leads. Ndawula, the chief executive officer of The Investigator, an online publication, told The Observer yesterday that some senior police officers, who he declined to name, had advised him to keep low and watch his movements because they knew about his animosity towards Kaweesi.
Before he founded The Investigator, Ndawula worked at Red Pepper where he covered the police and crime beat. As such, he developed extensive sources within the force and Kaweesi, he said, was one of them.
However, the two developed differences following his coverage of the murder of businessman Wilberforce Wamala, at his home in Mutungo in 2012 under mysterious circumstances.
In interviews with one of the businessman’s widows, Eliza Wamala, she claimed that Kaweesi had tried to interfere with investigations into her husband’s murder.
Ndawula regularly interviewed Eliza and gave her claims wide coverage to the annoyance of Kaweesi. One time, Ndawula claimed that his life was in danger due to these stories.
“One time in 2015 I met Kaweesi at Sheraton hotel and I told him point blank that he wanted to finish me. He denied it. He was with [Frank] Gashumba,” Ndawula told this writer by telephone yesterday.
He said Wamala’s widow, who now lives in the United Kingdom, had petitioned President Museveni to intervene and revive the botched investigation into her husband’s murder.
Ndawula said he has it on good authority that President Museveni on March 16 (a day before Kaweesi’s death) grilled Gen Kale Kayihura, the inspector general of police; Mike Chibita, the director of public prosecutions, and William Okalany, the investigations officer of the case.
He said from his information, the president wanted to know the status of the case and after the meeting, he gave the trio one week to furnish him with more details.
But Don Wanyama, the senior presidential press secretary, told us yesterday he was not aware of the March 16 meeting between Museveni and the trio. Ndawula says he has now decided to stay home and wait for anything, including being summoned.
ekiggundu@observer.ug
